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Thank you to EVERYBODY!!! These are good comments and I am listening. Moreover, I am showing my wife and my business partners this information ... (because telling them the truth is good for my long-term self-advantage!). I myself buy sometimes locally, and a lot online. And for the same reasons as all of you ...

Commodity items, items well-known in brand or manufacture, etc, are best purchased online.

Custom items, one-offs, things that must fit, specialty items ... usually can't be purchased online and that's where any local marine supply operation has to focus its business.

I am thinking "service" is also an area where Amazon can't compete. Winterizing and shrink-wrapping (if not mechanic's services). Installations. Sales of used boats (online HELPS the local outlet with this). And I did not think of the competition from Walmart for many things ... oil, gas treatment, a few marine supplies, fishing stuff, etc.

Even though I shop there ...

I really, really appreciate it.

BTW, Cleveland has this place called Samsel Supply, right on the Cuyahoga River, downtown Cleveland. If you ever need SERIOUS marine supplies, like 3" Hemp Rope, or shackles with pins that actually tighten, or special marine safety gear ... these guys have it. They also have lots of selection of more regular marine stuff, usually in bulk, and ALL of it is top quality. No junk rope. No Chinese cast-from-recycled-nuclear-plant hardware. They don't mind when regular guys like us walk in, though their usual boat customer has a boat in the 750' to 1000' range, full of iron ore from Wisconsin ...